The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-31
SMOKING BY PROXY.
The Manner in Which Ira Tripp, of
Scranton, Pa, Enjoys His Havana.


Scranton Ud.) Corr. TO the Ne1c York san.
Strangers in this city have often been led
to wonder at the sight daily to be seen on
the streets, of a tall, straight old man, with
a flowing white beard that reaches almost to
his waist, and snow-white hair, promenad-
ing in company with young colored man
who is constantly smoking, and who blows
every puff of his cigar smoke straight into
the face of the old man, who bends forward
to receive it and inhaes it eagerly with his
nose and mouth. The aged gentleman is
Uncle Ira Trip, the millionaire coal opera
tor, and one of the oldest natives of the
Lackawanna valley, being now over So The
colored man is his valet, John. From boy
hood until twenty years ago Ira Trip was
an inveterate smoker. He smoked the
strongest and most expensive cigars he
could buy His health became greatly inn
paired when he was about 60, and his doc
tor told him that he must either quit smok
ing OF die.
Since then he has not had cigar between
his lips, but has INDUCED his love for tobacco
smoke by inhaling it from cigars smoked
by others For a time he took his proxy
smokes by frequenting the company of
smokers, and asking them to puff their
smc Ike in his face, but the miscellaneous
quality of the tobacco thus inhaled was not
satisfactory. He then adopted the plan of
carrying his own cigars, and presenting
them to smokers on condition that they
would give him the benefit of the smoke.
Finally be hit on the plan of hiring a man
to accompany him wherever he went, the
mans only duty being to smoke a choice
cigar and blow the smoke in his employers
face. His present smoker. the colored man
John, has been with Uncle Ira for several
years, and the artistic way in which he
manipulates his cigar smoke to the best adj.
tor oh hos ,l,af la in
dispensable to the old gentleman. Uncle Ira,
as he is known from one end of the Lacka-
wanna valley to the other, never goes out
without John, and the latter, is ON duty as a
smoker constantly during the eccentric
millionaire's waking hours. John has
smoked an average of fifteen strong cigars
every day for a number of years, it rec
quiring that number to satisfy Uncle ITa's
longing for the fragrant smoke. but the adj
vocates of the doctrine that tobacco is an
insidious and deadly foe to health would
find no part of their theory in the case of
Ira Tripp's John. He has grown fat on his
persistent dalliance with the noxious nico-
tine.
r. Once, during the days when Uncle Ira
was peddling out his fragrant Havanas to
smokers in return for their puffs of smoke
in his face, he was in New York. He
stopped at the old Merchants Hotel in Cort-
iandt street, and, having business up town,
he bribed one Of the guests OF the hotel
with q handful of Reina Victorias to go
with him and smoke to him on the trip. The
two men got on the platform of Sixth
avenue car. Uncle lra's companion prompt
" lit cigar and blew cloud after cloud of
smoke in the old mans face. A benevolent
old lady sat in the car, and by and by she
was attracted by the sight of a young man
smoking a cigar on the front platform, and
deliberately putting the smoke in the face of
a white whiskered white headed man, who
seemed to be defenseless against the indig-
nifty thus imposed upon him. The benov-
client old lady watched the proceeding for
several blocks, her indignation becoming
deeper at every puff of smoke that the Inn
pudent young man cody turned and blew
In the face Of the meek and helpless veteran.
At last she could stand it no longer. She
arose from her seat and STROBE to the front
door of the car, opened it, and, stepping
out on the platform, seized the unmannerly
smoker by the shoulder, turned him around
with a savage jerk, knocked his cigar from
his mouth. and berated him soundly for bis
despicable treatment of the poor old ma n
whowas unable to escape from his perse-
cuioa. To the surprise Of the lady the poor
and helpless Old man raised up his voice IA
iiproarous laughter, and when the true sit
uation was explained TO her she flounced
back into the car and left it at The next cor
ner.